Drug dealer caught with £2k of heroin and cocaine jailed for four years

A DRUG dealer who was caught with cocaine and heroin worth over £2,000 along with more than £1,000 in cash has been jailed for four years.

Appearing at Bolton Crown Court, Mohammed Amin, 31, claimed he was transporting drugs, cash and two mobile phones between drug dealers in return for two grams of cocaine.

But Judge Martin Walsh rejected his story, calling it "incredulous", before sentencing him on two counts of possession of Class A drugs with intent to supply.

John Kennerley, prosecuting, described how on Wednesday, August 1 last year, two police officers were on duty in their car at around 11.45am when they spotted a blue Audi S3 travelling at speed along Bury Road.

The officers followed and managed to block the car in on Ainsworth Lane where they found three men inside including the defendant who was in the front passenger seat.

Mr Kennerley said the officers could smell cannabis and all three men seemed nervous so they began searching them.

Amin was found to be carrying two white carrier bags, the first of which contained heroin and crack cocaine worth an estimated £1,382, with the second bag containing the similar quantities worth just over £1,000.

Three wraps of crack cocaine worth around £10 each were also discovered along with notes and coins totalling £1,061.57p, three mobile phones and a receipt relating to some work carried out on the Audi.

Once he was arrested, Amin told the officers the drugs were not his and that he and the other two men had just robbed a drug dealer.

Officers then searched his home address at Astley Brook Close where they found 1.44 grams of heroin with an estimated value of £72.50 in a bedside cabinet.

Mr Kennerley said that Amin gave a no comment interview to police and a number of messages were recovered on two of the mobile phones that related to drug dealing.

He added that Amin was sentenced to 56 months imprisonment in June 2012 on two counts of possession with intent to supply heroin and crack cocaine after he was found staying in a hotel room where drugs had been stored in the fridge.

During a trial of issue hearing, Amin, who had entered guilty pleas on the basis that he was not sentenced as a street drug dealer and had been exploited by those higher up the chain, told the court he had phoned his dealer to order some cocaine but had no money.

He said the dealer had told him to give the drugs, money and phones to a man would meet him in McDonald's car park and give him two grams of cocaine in return.

When asked why he had lied to police about robbing a drug dealer, Amin replied: "I did say that but I was high on drugs and I was panicking and didn't know what to do." Amin was then asked who his drug dealer was. "I'm not saying," he said. "I'm more scared of him than you."

Steven Levine, defending, said: "You might not think much of his lifestyle, but he's been honest with you and I urge you to find his version of events the most credible."

Judge Walsh disagreed and after a short deliberation he told Amin his account was "incredible" and that he had lied to police "to cover up his involvement in street dealing".

In addition to pleading guilty to supplying drugs, Amin, of Merryfield Grange, Bolton, also admitted a string of driving offences following an incident on April 14, 2018.

Mr Kennerley said Amin was spotted by police officers driving an Audi S3 along Wigan Road at around 7.15pm. He was speeding and the police began following at which point he accelerated and began weaving through traffic, driving along the wrong side of the road and reaching speeds of over 100mph before colliding with another vehicle and crashing into postbox.

After running from the scene, Amin was arrested and tested positive for both cannabis and cocaine.

Calling the incident "an appalling piece of dangerous driving", Judge Walsh disqualified Amin from driving for three years and 319 days and sentenced him to nine months in prison to run concurrently with his earlier sentence.

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